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How to Cultivate a Positive Company Culture

October 31, 2018 | Phương Uyên Trần

To be successful, companies need to care about how their employees interact with each other, with senior management, and with the organization’s customers. A company’s culture determines the longevity of its success. This becomes more and more important as a company grows and management lines stretch. Combat this tendency by ensuring that the founder’s ethos and values percolate down throughout the company through a set of core values.

But this can only happen when these values and priorities have been clearly established and then widely communicated. When they are, everyone involved understands the what and the why he or she is working for the company. The result? Employees are more motivated if they feel they are working for something bigger than themselves. If someone has a sense of belonging, he or she is not only far more likely to go the extra mile but also work with others to achieve it.

Creating this sense of belonging is something that THP takes seriously and is founded on seven core values, which each employee is aware of and is expected to embrace. At the end of the day, THP is a behavioral-driven company and not just a profit-driven one. Here are some of the values that have proven successful for THP:

Know What Motivates Your People. One of the biggest factors influencing your corporate culture will be geographic location. For example, one of the biggest mistakes Western companies make when they come to Vietnam is trying to instill a sense of “teamwork.” Teamwork is not one of THP’s core values; we try to achieve the same outcome but use a different concept that appeals to the Vietnamese mind-set. Instead of “teamwork” we focus on “Owning your Work.” This core value is about taking responsibility and understanding that success or failure is due to personal effort.

Allow Room for Risk and Failure. At THP, we feel it’s important to let people take risks and fail without undue consequences. Failure scares most people. They generally do not want to advertise their mistakes in case a rival uses the information against them. We try to encourage employees to understand that failure is all around us, and there is no reason to be afraid of it. It is something we should respect and try to learn from.

Rewarding Good Work. At the end of the day, most people come to work because they need to earn a living. THP’s guiding motif is not to pay the minimum, but to be a company that people aspire to work for. In addition to ensuring we offer competitive pay and benefits, we place great importance on performance and attitude metrics. As a part of these measurements, we dedicate significant time throughout the year fostering communication between staff and senior executives so that values and expectations are clearly understood.

Integrate Involvement in the Community. Giving something back is the right thing to do, and it makes a lot of sense from a business and company culture perspective. When employees feel that they are a part of a company that cares about larger issues and causes, they feel more invested in your cause as a business. As mentioned before, employees want to feel a part of something bigger than themselves – this is a truly effective way of providing a sense of belonging and purpose.

Regardless of your company’s approach, fostering a positive work environment that encourages learning, responsibility, accountability and investment from its employees is critical to long-term success. Learn more about THP’s approach by visiting www.phuonguyentran.com.